Car-door bracket.



PATENTBD JULY 21, 1908;

' B. A. HILL.

. GAR DOOR BRACKET.

. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 14, 1908.

2 SHEETS-SHEET l- No. 894,002. PATENTED JULY 21, 1908;

f B. A. HILL. I

GAR DOOR BRACKET.

APPLICATION FILED MAR-14, 190B.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Wye/7702":

wfzzejji i Z /1 5% fl w UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD A. HILL,

OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO CHICAGO GRAIN DOOR COMPANY, OFCHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

CAR-DOOR BRACKET.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 21, 1908.

Application filed March 14, 1908. Serial No. 421,207.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD A. HILL, a citizen of the United Stat-es,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Door Brackets, ofWlllCll the followin is a specification.

My invention relates to brackets for guiding and retaining the loweredges of freight car doors, and particularly to brackets of the typeknown as safety brackets or burglar proof brackets, which are soconstructed that they cannot be removed from the car when the door isclosed without very great difficulty and without so disfiguring the carthat their removal will be immediately detected upon inspection.

The object of the present invention is to "provide a new and improvedconstruction of car door bracket of the safety type which may be easilyattached to the car by screws through bolts or even by barbed spikes,

which sh all be capable of use upon cars where it is not possible orconvenient to use the ordinary brackets now in use and which shallrequire but a small s ace for its attachment.

The invention is i lustrated in the accompanying drawings wherein Figure1 is a side elevation of the central portion of a freight carillustrating the door of the freight car guided and retained by thebracket of my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical section through one of thebrackets and the adjacent parts of the car. Fig. 3 is an elevation ofthe same with the door removed and showing the bracket attached by thecentral attaching device and ready to receive the upper attaching screwsor bolts. Fig. 4 is a plan view of the bracket; and Fig. 5 is a verticalsection similar to that of Fig. 2 illustrating the attachment of thebracket to a car having a steel under-frame.

Like characters of reference indicate like parts in the several figuresof the drawings.

Referring to the drawings 1 represents the ordinary sliding freight cardoor which has the latch 2' adapted to be sealed in the customarymanner.

3 represents the siding of the car, 4 one of the usual filler whichextends down over the sill and fills the space under the door betweenthe two door posts. In order to make room for the attachment of mybracket in the manner to be hereafter described, this siding is cut awayon the diagonal as shown in Fig. 3.

The bracket consists of an arm having an upturned lip and an attachinglate 9 which latter is preferably substantial y circular in itsconfiguration and provided with a central bolt or screw hole 10 toreceive an attaching device which, in Figs. 2 and 3, is shown as anordinary lag screw 11 provided with a sguared head. The head may be,however, 0 any shape even circular, although in such latter case the lagscrew would have to be driven home by a sledge after the manner of aspike. I prefer, however, to use a lag screw with a polygonal head inorder that it may be driven down with a wrench. The plate 9 is providedwith outstanding rib 12 around the bolt hole 10 and which preferablyconforms to the shape of the screw head. When the screw has been drivenhome it will be seen that this rib effectually prevents the bracket frombeing removed so long as the door stands above the bracket. The plate 9is also preferably provided with the bolt holes 13, 13, extendingthrough bosses 14, 14, and which are not protected by ribs as is thecentral bolt hole. These holes receive the lag screws 15 or otherequivalent attaching devices.

The bracket member or bracket pro er, is integral with the attachingplate an proj ects from the bottom thereof, comprising the horizontalledge 16 and the upturned lip 17. The bracket member may be reinforcedby the ribs 18, 18, 18,.and by the curved reinforcing webs 19, 19.

When the bracket is to be attached in the ordinary'way the central lagscrew 11 will be driven down by a wrench or it may even be hammereddown. The last few turns, how ever, will be given by engaging the ribs12 with the screw head and turning the bracket bodily with the screw. Ifa through-bolt is used in place of the lag screw the nut on the bolt maybe screwed up in the same manner. It will be noticed that the rotectedbolt or screw hole of the bracket is located in the center of thebracket and that the bracket itself is substantially circular. Becauseof this the bracket may be attached in a space which is just barelylarge enough to contain it when in place. This is important in certainsorts of freight cars now in use because it is not desirable to cut awayany more of the woodwork of the car than is necessary. It will be notedalsothat the attaching plate is entirely above the bracket arm. Thisallows the bracket to be used on cars in which the doors extend down tothe bottom of the sill while permitting the attachment of the bracket tothe sill in the ordinary manner. This bracket may, of course, be used aswell upon the older styles of cars in which the doors are shorter. Thecircular construction of the bracket gives very great strength as wellas compactness.

In freight cars in which the body of the car is supported upon a steelunder-frame, it has been customary to weld or otherwise secure the doorbrackets to the portion of the underframe which supports the car sill.This was done very largely because in cars of this type the doorsusually extend down to the bottom of the sill. This method of attachmentobviously has its disadvantages. It is a more or less diflicult task toattach the iron bracket to the metal frame and if the bracket be comesbroken there is considerable trouble and difficulty involved in removingthe parts and attaching a new bracket. The brackets of the presentinvention may be used on cars of this particular build. The bracket mayalso be attached by a through-bolt and will be just as securely attachedas if a lag screw were used because the head of the bolt will beconcealed behind the steel under-frame. A bolt makes in some respects abetter attachment than a lag screw because it extends clear through thesill and is not so likely to become loose.

In Fig. 5 I have illustrated my bracket as attached to a car having asteel under-frame. The central or protected attachment is here shown asmade by a through-bolt. In this figure 20 represents a portion of thesteel underframe, 21 a steel bracket connected with the under-frame andwhich supports the car sill 6. 22 is a through-bolt having a countersunkhead 23 and a nut 24 which will be protected by the ribs 12 of thebrackets.

It will be understood that the bracket of this invention is designed tobe used on freight cars where the sliding door is to be sealed orotherwise secured in its closed posi tion. If one or more of thebrackets used to guide and retain the lower edge of the door could, insuch cases, be removed and replaced without detection it might bepossible for a person wishing to rob the car to force the bottom of thedoor out far enough to accomplish his purpose without breaking the sealor other fastening means used at the front edge of the door. Carsprovided with brackets which may be removed and replaced with but littledisturbance may thus be entered without breaking the seal.

I wish it to be understood that I do not desire to limit myself to theprecise construction and arrangements above shown and described asmodifications may be devised which will come within the spirit of myinvention.

I claim:

1. A car door bracket comprising a substantially circular attachingplate, a bracket arm extending outwardly and upwardly from the loweredge of said plate, a hole in the center of the plate, and an attachingdevice to extend through said hole, said plate having a projecting ribaround said hole and conformed to an engaging part' of said attachingdevice, whereby the bracket, when being attached, may be rotated. aboutits central point.

2. A car door bracket comprising a substantially circular plate having ahole in the center, a rib on the plate around said hole, a bracket armextending from the lower edge of said circular plate and curvedreinforcing webs reinforcing the connection between the plate and thebracket arm, said attaching plate being provided with additionalunprotected holes for attaching means.

3. The combination with the sill of a freight car and a door whichreaches substantially to the bottom of the sill, of a door bracket forretaining and guiding the lower edge of the door, comprising a bracketarm extending at its outer end above the edge of the door, and having anattaching plate adapted to be attached to the car sill and lying behindthe door, said plate having a hole therethrough, a rib on the platearound said hole, and an attaching device which extends through the holeand into the car sill and having a part which is protected by said rib.

4.- The combination with the metal underframe of a freight car and thesill and door of said car, of a metal support for said sill, and

a door bracket comprising an attaching plate EDWARD A. HILL.

Witnesses:

P. H. TRUMAN H. L. Pnox.

